DOVER — A trial for defendants Christopher Gay and Cory Bennett, for their alleged killing of Ryan Stewart of Farmington, will be scheduled for October 2013.

A Strafford County Superior Court judge has yet to rule on the state’s request to hold a joint trial for the pair though he heard from both sides on the issue at a pretrial conference, one of the last before a trial is set, on Wednesday.

Stewart was found dead outside of his Farmington apartment, located across the street from the police station on Worster Street in Farmington, on Jan. 21, stabbed and bloodied with lacerations on his abdomen and hands medical examiners called “defensive wounds” in court documents.

Both Gay and Bennett, who were 26 and 21 at the time, were arrested the following day and have been incarcerated separately for the last 11 months. Each man is charged with four counts of first-degree murder, two counts of second-degree murder and two counts of conspiracy to commit robbery. Each pleaded not guilty to the charges in June.

On Wednesday, Assistant Attorney General James C. Vara summarized the details of the case, some of them gruesome, while the defendants sat in silence. Two attorneys representing Gay argued against the state’s motion for consolidation to combine the two defendants in a joint trial, but Judge John M. Lewis said he would make a motion to accept the request, pending other circumstances.

A previous matter regarding a conflict of interest regarding Lewis because his son works in the attorney general’s office was also dismissed, because he will be leaving that practice soon. Lewis reassured attorneys and the handful of attendees in the courtroom he did not have any privileged knowledge of the case.

Gay’s defense attorney Andrew Cotrupi additionally made an objection to the state’s request to use evidence from his client’s cell phone, which Cotrupi argued was not specific enough. He said the defense would be interested in allowing the use of the phone if the request was limited to just reading text messages, and not going into other files that may hold photographs and emails.

“Cell phones are like computers these days,” he said.

Vara and his coprosecutor Janice Kerr Rundles requested a trial be scheduled for October, rather than an earlier time in June or July, because the state has other cases to pursue and Vara plans to be married in those months.

Lewis stressed he wished to be mindful of the defendants’ time in prison, urging them to speed up the process. He also noted if the two defendant’s trials cannot be combined, that would mean one of the defendants would be “sitting in jail” for longer.

“That is the major concern,” he said, as he advised both defense and prosecution to move matters along.

Vara revealed in a statement summarizing the facts of the case a few new details of the killing, noting Stewart was found “sprawled out” across the porch of his apartment building when a nearby resident called the police. A K9 unit called in from the Rochester Police Department led authorities approximately one quarter of a mile away from the scene to a Bunker Street residence, where Gay and Bennett were reportedly staying with another woman Gay refers to as “mom,” according to newly available court documents. Reports also allege sneaker footprints, some of them bloodied, were found leading up to that property.

When confronted by police, the defendants reportedly both told police they had not been near Stewart’s property on the night of his death, and were at the Bunker Street residence drinking beer and listening to music. Gay told police he left around 8 p.m. or 9 p.m. for Walmart to get more beer and a telephone but on Wednesday, Vara said Gay left out the fact that he had purchased a bandanna as well.

Reports also say police obtained a search warrant after witnessing Gay move bags into his girlfriend’s vehicle, which were later found with bloodied clothing, a knife, and knuckles made from bicycle chain inside. An autopsy showed Stewart was brutally attacked with bike chain.

Vara said the incident was allegedly sparked by the fact that Bennett’s relationship with his girlfriend was “on the rocks” and she pursued a sexual relationship with Stewart. Text messages previously obtained showed Gay and Bennett conspired to attack and rob Stewart, according to court documents, and at the scene of the crime, blood was found on the floor and walls of many rooms in Stewart’s apartment, as well as on money inside a safe in his bedroom.

Vara said he couldn’t speak for Bennett, but paraphrased his statements, alleging Bennett admitted in an interview Gay is “a thug and he’s the one who was involved in this.” Bennett’s mother, Lisa Hitter, previously told Foster’s she couldn’t imagine her son doing something like this.

In the courtroom, Bennett and Gay sat about 10 feet away from each other, at separate desks. Gay, dressed in an orange suit with shackles, and Bennett in beige, sat quietly and never spoke during the conference, except briefly to confer with their respective lawyers. At one point, upon hearing a trial was at least 10 months away and could last for at least four weeks, Gay turned to Bennett and made a grimacing face.

Attorneys are asked to submit a structured schedule for a trial by January and another pretrial conference has yet to be scheduled.